


I Know Why The Cheshire Cat Grins

by anthroxagorus



Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll
Genre: Sweet Fluff, cats chose their owners that's the law, did you know alice in wonderland is full of math jokes, did you know if you name a cat you have to keep it that is also the law, is this fandom dead? prolly, this fanfiction will not be
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 11:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,213
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20339197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anthroxagorus/pseuds/anthroxagorus
Summary: The Cheshire Cat pays a visit to Alice in her home, intending to stay. Do you think she'll let him? (Does she have much of a choice? What a stubborn cat!)





	I Know Why The Cheshire Cat Grins

**Author's Note:**

> This was a really fun story I wrote about 10 years ago (Yikes!) that was for a friend, back before Tim Burton's version of Alice in Wonderland was released. I still really like the nonsensical banter between them and I think the idea is just a too sweet way to say goodbye to the series - not that Alice has to go back and fight monsters, but that Cheshire Cat is so attached to her. Thanks for clicking!

“Oh, Dinah, you're much too heavy to be lying on me like this – I simply can't... _breathe_!”Alice wheezed as she attempted to remove the ball of fur curled onto her chest. She was use to her cat sleeping on her head or such, but was _not_ use to having so much difficulty removing her cat.

“Dinah... I'm kind of fond of that name, but you should just call me Cheshire Cat or Cheshire Puss or Cheshire itself is just as fine,”replied the ball of fur.  
  
Alice's eyes grew rather large until they merited that in the size of the cat's grin before her. “Oh, Dinah,”she said softly, “what happened to your soft fur?” (As she was still rather tired, she had mistaken the creature for her own.)  
  
The Cheshire Cat cocked its head. “I believe we haven't met, Alice. You should introduce us. It's rude if you don't, you know.”  
  
Waking a little more, Alice became a bit bristled. “Oh, it's you again! And where's my own? You haven't replaced her, have you?”  
  
“You've only named me – and I'm right here,” the Cheshire Cat protested.  
  
Alice tapped her forehead. “Absolute nonsense. Now where can my Dinah, my kitten, be? She's always here every morning to wake me, and she's so very sweet about it.”  
  
“I don't think you're listening to me,”the cat said, sounding cross. “And I don't think either that you asked for the consent to have my name changed.”  
  
“Your name? I haven't changed your name! You're the Cheshire Cat!”  
  
“I'm a Cheshire Cat, and you're a little girl. I don't enjoy being _the_ Cheshire Cat, if you want to know the truth. I'll let you call me Dinah, if you wish, as long as it's not Cheshire Cat.”  
  
“Dinah's _my_ cat!”  
  
The Cheshire purred in content.  
  
“Oh, you silly thing! You're not my cat – No, ah, there she is! Dinah! Dinah, dear, please come!”  
  
“Oh...”the Cheshire cat pouted. “I see...”  
  
Alice cooed over the silly thing.  
  
“I'm very hurt, you know,” the cat let on.  
  
“I should like it if you would move off of me,” Alice replied, unabashed. “It's hard for me to take a proper breath. Or any sort of breath at all.” This was rather exaggerated as Alice had been able to hold conversation, but the Cheshire Cat removed himself just as well and lay by the bed curled neatly by her side.

"Now how does breakfast sound, Dinah?"

"_I_'m ravenous," the Cheshire cat murmured, padding alongside of her, wishing she would've carried him as well - or at least let him settle between her shoulder blades. Didn't she understand how long he'd walk to find her? Luckily indeed she carried the scent of Wonderland behind her, so it had been a rather geodesic path.

* * *

The sisters were quite intrigued with their purple-gray-blue striped visitor. "What spectacular colors, Alice. Did you say he crawled through the window?"

"You really ought not to leave it open at night," said their father."What if it had been a bird?"

"What if it been a wild _dog_?" asked the middle sister.

"Now, it couldn't have been a dog," the oldest said reasonably. "A dog could hardly leap that distance nor does it have the ability to fly."

"There now, it could've been a fly as well Alice. Wouldn't that have been _awful_?"

"No, I wouldn't have liked that," Alice agreed reasonably.

Her oldest sister wrinkled her nose at the very thought. "Well... eat up then, we've got a late start on our lesson." She bit leisurely in a bit of toast with buttery spread and thought of the bread/butter flies in Wonderland

"Alice, do take the cat with you in case you might run into its owner." The Cheshire Cat made a face.

"Yes, father," she said and gathered the cat in her arms, who purred contently. The crust of her toasts joined Dinah's milk bowl. It was a shame she couldn't come along, but nature really wasn't that agreeable with her - that is, the dirt really made a mess of her snow-white paws.

As they walked the short distance to the nearby park, the Cheshire Cat chattered on about the possibility of a new name, which her sister seemed entirely deaf, too, humming a tune to herself that Alice didn't recognize.

"I would like it to begin with Sir and end with Junior, and perhaps the middle will be Senior - it'll be very distinguished."

"It won't be distinguished at all!"

"What about Lewis? You're fond of a Lewis, aren't you?"

"I suppose so."

"I'm partial to Robert," he prattled along, "but I feel I'm more suitable for a Joseph or a Brandon..."

Remembering something, Alice pipped up "A rose by any name is just as sweet!"

"Oh absolutely!" her sister called over her shoulder, positively beaming. "I see the studies have had _some_ effect on you! Now here's a good spot..."

Her sister talked about this and that, while Alice pet the Cheshire Cat and felt the warm sun against her cheeks, arms and legs. She enjoyed it while she could, as young girls were really not supposed to be outside too long in the sun.

* * *

When Alice's sisters had grown too hot and decided to wander into town, Alice and Cheshire Cat (a new name still undecided) turned their full attention to the rabbit hole Alice had first fallen into. They both watched it intently, while the Cheshire Cat insisted the hole was too big for him. "And besides, it's not my entrance, nor my exit."

"Well, where _did_ you exit?" she asked.

"Somewhere off in town, " he said.

"But where?" she pressed on.

"A vegetable bin," he sighed heavily. "There were potatoes and tomatoes and leeks and cabbages and-"

"But-!"

"_Onions_,” he finished firmly, making a face. It was very important to him that Alice understood the trials he had recently suffered to come to her.

Alice waved her hand impatiently from side to side. "How can you - oh, nevermind." She propped her chin in her small hands and continued watching the rabbit hole.

“Would you like to know what Dinah told me earlier?”

"You can speak to Dinah?"

"I'm speaking to _you_, aren't I?" He settled comfortably. “She's seen the White Rabbit – the Queen asks for apples, you know, because she is so fond of the color and the world must pay their taxes to her, and the White Rabbit retrieves them but _Dinah_'s seen him with his pocket of apples and they almost always fall out of his pockets before he leaps into the hole once more. A silly thing."

“I don't understand why you can't do the same.”

"I haven't a pocket full of apples! Or any pockets at all!"

"Well, what does she say about me?"

“The Queen? She's forgotten all about you.”

“No,” Alice said impatiently. “I meant Dinah, of course.” She couldn't care less about the thoughts of the Queen!

"She's quite fond of you," the cat said."_I'm_ also very fond of you."

She heaved a long sigh. "All right, you may stay until the White Rabbit retrieves you."

"All right," he said smiling.

"Now let's head home."

And Sir Cheshire Senior Cat Jr. was quite content.

_"The best journey takes you home"_


End file.
